SF/Fantasy Con, and Books

On Saturday, March 26th, I’ll be a guest at the Louisiana Science Fiction and Costuming Festival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’ll probably also be there some on Sunday. On Saturday I’m going to be talking about Dreams and Nightmares and sitting on panels about Fanzines, Horror Films, and Sci Fi Films. It looks to be a lot of fun so if you get a chance drop by. The con website is here.

Some of you may possibly remember me remarking toward the end of 2010 about how I was so behind on reading that I was going to cut back on buying books for a while. Ha ha ha haha hahahhahaha. HA! Below is a sample of ‘some’ of the books I’ve bought since saying that. This is all fiction and doesn’t include the some $300 bucks I spent on nonfiction at Borders’ Going out of Business Sale. I absolutely cannot stop.

The Softer Side

Most everyone who visits here knows the kind of music I like. 1. Heavy. 2. Loud. 3. Often fast. 4. Did I mention Heavy?

I don’t really get into lyrics. In fact, I own quite a few CDs or albums (large round disks made of vinyl with music embedded in them) in which the singing is in German or Japanese or Spanish or Portuguese. I’m perfectly happy with them.

One of my perennial favorites, which meets all the primary criteria, is “Fight from the Inside” by Queen. Now Queen is not a metal band, but this song has a serious case of the heavies. My only problem with it is that at 3:00 minutes it’s way too short. I used to have a tape I made for myself in which I recorded it four times, one after another, so that I could get a good fix.
Queen: Fight from the Inside

Black Sabbath is the prototype for this kind of music, and most of you will know of such songs as War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Good stuff. But for an example of this type that you may not know, I’ve linked to Celtic Frost’s “Procreation of the Wicked.” If you don’t like metal you might just want to get a flavor and then go back to your regularly scheduled programming. If you’re like me you’ll get all goose-bumpy and play it over at least twice.
Celtic Frost: Procreation of the Wicked.

But do you know that I have a softer side? Yes, I do. The two songs linked below, Wasp’s “Sleeping in the Fire” and Ted Nugent’s “Together” are slow pieces that never fail to get to me emotionally.
WASP: Sleeping in the Fire
Ted Nugent: Together

The other two, “In This River” by Black Label Society and “Hurt” as sung by Johnny Cash, tear me up. I can only listen to them occasionally. They always leave me melancholy. I played them a lot in the days just before and after my mother died. That was March 21, 2010.
Black Label Society: In This River
Johnny Cash: Hurt

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Despairing of the Human Race

I'm thankful for my blogging friends. You give me hope that the human race is worthwhile after all. Sometimes I'm not so sure. I saw on Facebook where one of the joke writers for the cartoon series Family Guy sent out a twitter comment that said: "If you wanna feel better about this earthquake in Japan, Google "Pearl Harbor death toll".

I'm not mentioning the guy's name because I don't support that kind of thing. But just seeing that comment was enough to make me want to return my human card. Then I looked at a couple of sites where this tweet was being discussed and my dislike for the human race in general went way up.

The guy probably meant his original comment as a joke. He was going for a quick, lazy laugh and didn’t want to put any effort into it. But not only wasn’t it funny, it was horrifically cruel to a people who have lost thousands of their own and are in the midst of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. I would think that we all could get behind the fact that the guy who said it was being an asshole, at least at the time he said it, and from what I understand he has made an apology. The worst part, though, was the outpouring of troll behavior in the commenters.

One person said that this kind of comment was typical of liberals and several others joined in with tirades against the evils of liberals. Someone even suggested that this is the kind of thing that happens when you have someone like Obama as president. Now, I have no idea if the guy who made the tweet is a liberal or a conservative as far as politics are concerned, or whether he voted for Obama or not. I also don’t care. He said an asshole thing, no matter what else he “is” or has done. Others added their agreement to the tweet, saying things like the Japanese deserved what they got and how “karma is a bitch.” Frankly, I don’t want to be human in a population that includes people like this.

Take every race, every country, every creed, and you’ll find they’ve done evil things. The Japanese no more “deserve” this than the Gulf Coast deserved Katrina, or New York deserved September 11, or Poland deserved Hitler. A tragedy has occurred, and if you can’t help then at least don’t try to make it worse.

Rant over.
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Another Guest Post, at Tyrannosaurus Press

I've got another guest post up today, over at the Tyrannosaurus Press blog. If you get a chance, please drop by. I've linked the direct address for my post.

My post is also still up at Novel Spaces as well, on "Vampires and Sex," if you haven't seen it. It'll probably be the second one down from the top.

I will eventualy post something substantive here on my own blog. I promise. :)
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Vampires and Sex at Novel Spaces

I'm posting over at Novel Spaces today on "Vampires and Sex." I hope you'll check it out.
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Love in the Ruins

There were seven bells ringing, three of iron, three of brass—one of silver. Their sound was as chaotic and cold as the wind that blew at Kainja's back, as sharp and dark as the scimitar shapes of the mountain vultures circling above his head in the dimming sky of evening. Those vultures had a purpose here, but it wasn't that they were waiting for him to die. That would have been futile. They were waiting for him to leave so they could settle again to the feast he had interrupted.

Framing the meticulously ordered canvas of the dead that lay before him were a monastery's ruins. Smoke helices lifted over broken walls and orange and black kites fluttered on the ground like raped angels. A row of stone monkeys had lost their heads. Even worse was the water cistern filled with blood, a conspicuous waste. Someone had created a sadistic landscape here. They had done it deliberately, out of some need or passion that Kainja did not understand and which horrified him. And the worst thing of all was that only one person could be responsible, the woman Kainja loved more than anyone else living in the world.
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This is a little piece of a story called “Wanting the Mouth of a Lover.” The vampire Kainja visits the Himalayas and finds an old enemy and an old lover, and for a while it seems they may both be the same person.

There are three Kainja stories in Midnight in Rosary. The other two are “In a Cold of Snow and Ghosts,” and “Vessel for the Holy.” All of them appeared first in Prisoners of the Night, the anthology series edited by the inimitable Alayne Gelfand. There’s a secret about Kainja that is revealed in “Wanting the Mouth of a Lover.” I won’t tell you what it is but someday I hope some of you will tell me! :)



Barnes & Noble
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Tales of Crimson and Black

Midnight in Rosary...............

Tales of Crimson and Black...................

Predation is in the bones, in the marrow. Even when sated a carnivore will still hunt. It wants the wet taste of life, the sweetness of watermelon flesh. Its need to kill isn't rational. And it won't be denied its blood.

Midnight in Rosary is out. It was released yesterday and I’ve finally had a moment to savor and appreciate it. I’m proud of this collection of vampire and werewolf tales. Naturally I’d like everyone to read it. But I want you to know in case you do that it’s a little different than the other stuff you may have read by me.

These stories are not heroic fantasy like the Talera novels or Bitter Steel. Some of them are horror, although not as graphic as Cold in the Light. Most would be defined as dark fantasy or Urban Fantasy. And there is quite a lot of sex, which ranges from the graphic to the romantic. The characters in these stories are much more conflicted than Ruenn MacLang (Talera) or Thal Kyrin (Bitter Steel). They carry a lot more doubt around with them. Many of them have made bad mistakes and they are paying for those mistakes every day. With their blood. With their souls.

Here are some of the story titles:

Wanting the Mouth of a Lover
The Cold of Snow and Ghosts
In Memory of the Sun
The Poetry of Blood
River Road; Night Music
Innocent Little Sin

If you’d like to read the book, you can find it at:

Barnes & Noble

Or Amazon:



It’s a bit cheaper at Barnes & Noble at the moment.

And I hope you’ll bear with me while I talk about the book more over the next few days.

Best wishes to all,
Charles
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Bikes Today

Lana and I bought bikes today. I like to describe them as old people bikes. They're "Huffy's," with big, cushiony seats, high handlebars, and no gear shifts. We also bought some accessories.

We first went to a specialty bike store to look at bikes. They had them, but they didn't have one to fit Lana, and even the old folks bikes ran between 330 and 550 bucks each. Their specialty bikes generally ran over 2 grand. We'd not planned on spending that much so we broke down and went to one of those discount stores where we got our two Huffys, an air pump, two locks, a basket for Lana's cameras, and an all in one tool set for less than 300 total. I like to support independent stores, but we probably saved 700 dollars and that's not exactly chump change to me.

Anyway, we're looking forward to our first ride this evening, and the weather is perfect for it here today.

In reading news, I'm reading and enjoying three of the Chuck Norris "fact" books by Ian Spector. I've seen this stuff around but when Borders had their going out of business sale I picked 'em up fairly cheaply and they are pretty funny.

I'm also reading two fine works by blog colleagues, "Resonance" by Avery Debow, and "The Ravening" by Stewart Sternberg. I'll have reviews of those up when I'm finished. I'm certainly enjoying so far.

Nuff said. Let's go ride.
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A Novel Spaces A Day

My latest post is still up over at Novel Spaces. It's down one from the top at that link, and is called "Need to Believe." Drop by if you get the chance.

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Face-Off

I’d been wanting to see the new Sci fi channel series called “Face-Off,” which is a competition between folks who do special effects makeup. I finally caught an episode last night in which the competitors were asked to change the apparent gender of a couple and to set them up as if they were going to get married. Thus, they changed the male into the bride and the woman into the groom.

I won’t, however, be watching another episode. Not because of the competitors, who were interesting and showed various levels of talent, but because of the judges, who apparently have no discernment at all. With one couple, the man was a tall black fellow with strongly masculine features. I’m sure the two competitors chosen to work with him did their best, but in the end there was nothing remotely feminine about the guy except for the bridal gown they put him in. The judges raved about the transformation, about the makeup, about the whole presentation, and rated him the highest of any of the “products” of the competition.

Now, maybe some of you saw the Sports Illustrated joke cover picturing Mike Ditka as a groom and Ricky Williams as the bride back in the day when Ditka gave up most of the Saints’ draft choices to get Ricky. The “bride” in this set looked as feminine as Ricky Williams did in that photo. Or maybe you’ve seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Well, Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter looked more like a woman than this guy did. Rupaul probably wouldn’t even have this guy on his drag show.

In other words, these judges apparently know absolutely nothing about true transformation, although they apparently recognize shades of make-up. I’ll be passing on any future episodes.
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Local Borders Closes

Many of you probably know that Borders is closing a lot of its stores. No bailout for the bookstores, I guess. One store that’s closing is the store in Metairie, Louisiana where I’ve bought most of my Bricks & Mortar books over the last decade. It’s also the store where my Wordsmiths Writing Group meets, so we are for the moment a group without a home. Anyway, Borders is having a going out of business sale and I naturally stopped by last night to pick over the carcass. I’m enough of a scavenger that way, although I will weep while cracking the bones for their marrow. A lot of other folks had the same idea I did. Too bad business couldn’t have been that good for them before bankruptcy.

I bought some $300 dollars worth of books, mostly nonfiction, with about 75% of it being related to the Darwin project I’m working on. These include books by Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins on the anti-creationism side, a book on the cool new area of evolutionary theory called “Evo-Devo,” and several books by religious thinkers who are trying to resist the Fundamentalists’ attempt to hijack the Bible and Christianity for their own ends. A lot of good reading ahead of me.

I did buy some just-for-fun books. I picked up three of the “Chuck Norris” is the man books by Ian Spector, including one entitled Chuck Norris vs. Mr. T. Some light, quick reading. I only bought one novel, Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry, which I’ve been intending to get for a good while. I also bought a Batman graphic novel, and books on Dave Mustaine, Motley Crue, and AC/DC.

I do not need more books to read. But that has never stopped me before. A couple of months back I bought a new bookshelf that I intended just to hold 1) my highest ranked TBR pile, and 2) unread books by friends of mine. I’d hoped to keep that shelf under 50 books but it’s over 200 already, not counting the ones I’ll be adding to it today.

I have to face it, I suppose. I just can’t stop. My name is Charles, and I’m a Bookaholic.
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Creation

Lana and I watched the movie Creation last night. (I had previously read the book on which the movie is based.) It’s a story about Charles Darwin’s work on his most famous book, The Origin of Species, and about the horrible loss he experienced when his ten year old daughter, Anne, died painfully after a long illness. Paul Bettany played Darwin, and Jennifer Connelly played his wife, Emma. The acting was outstanding, even though I don’t ever remember seeing Bettany in anything before.

Up front, I’ll tell you that the movie got many details wrong. I’ve made something of a study of Darwin’s scientific life and am working on my own book about him. The sequence about how Darwin came to do the final work on “Origin” and publish it were not accurate. Darwin also suffered himself from chronic ailments of the stomach, and the symptoms and sequences of his treatments were not portrayed quite right. There is no evidence that he really experienced the hallucinations he has in the movie. There was also too much emphasis put on the religious conflicts between Charles and Emma. In general, though, these did not much detract from the movie, and I imagine for someone less familiar with Charles’s life and work they would seem to be minor details.

I would not like anyone to watch this movie and think this was “exactly” how the publication of the “Origin” happened, but I wish a lot of people who seem to hate Darwin without knowing anything about him would watch it. A key thing it does is humanize him. Darwin was an intensely human person. He loved his wife and his many children. He took joy in good friends but also loved his time alone. He fought a war within himself about his religious beliefs, which changed over his lifetime, but he never considered himself to be at war with God. He was at times tormented by self-doubt, but he also believed he was uncovering real and important truths about the way the world worked. He had the ambitions of a scientist. He wanted to be remembered for his work. He also wanted to respect his wife’s beliefs. In short, he had the same kinds of strengths and failings that we see around us in others of the human race.

When Anne fell into the worst part of her illness, Charles took her to a hospital where he had himself been treated for his own ailments. Emma could not go, both because she was pregnant herself at the time, and also because of the other children. Charles went, and he was by Anne’s bedside at nearly every moment while she was dying. He grieved terribly afterward. The letters that he wrote to Emma almost every day are heartbreaking. One day he would be filled with hope for his daughter’s recovery, the next he would be sunk into despair and tell Emma to prepare herself for the worst. The worst came, and it is clear that Darwin never forgot.

I’ve said several times on this blog and others, that I respect plenty of people but that I don’t truly admire many real humans. I may admire the actions of many, but most “real” heroes have plenty of less than admirable characteristics. Darwin is really an exception for me. I do indeed admire him. His feet of clay are pretty minor compared to those of some others that people seem to admire. His good qualities are many. He was not perfect. But he tried hard to do what he thought was right. When my book on him is eventually finished, and hopefully published, the dedication will read: “To Charles Darwin. Who helped me see.”

Style Changes

Over the last few weeks I've been going through the Talera trilogy one more time for the conversion from print to ebook. Reading the three works back to back like that has been fun, sometimes surprising, and sometimes I've just had to say "Doh!"

The "Doh" has come from the fact that in both Wings Over Talera and Witch of Talera I sometimes misspelled my own invented words. In "Wings," the city of Revenor is sometimes spelled RevAnor. In "Witch" the distance measurement of "tahng" is spelled "taung." I've even got a series bible where the correct spellings are listed. Why didn't I bother to consult it? I couldn't tell you.

The surprise has been in noting certain stylistic trends that have changed in my writing over time. I went from using very little italics for emphasis in Swords of Talera to using too much in "Witch" and backing off of that for the ebook. There's also something I've always done stylistically, and that is to repeat certain words to give emphasis in sentences. I might say, for example, "he was running, just running." However, I see that I relied on that element a bit much in "Witch" and am also backing off of that for the ebook.

At one point in my life I thought of a writer's style as largely fixed. Mine certainly hasn't been, and there are deeper changes than the ones I've mentioned above. That probably calls for another post.

In the end, though, reading through the Talera trilogy has primarily been great fun for me. I have to say I like them pretty well. I'm proud of them.

But how about you and style? Has your writing style changed enough to notice over time? Or have you noticed changes in the style of some writer you love to read? I'd like to know.



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When it Rains it Pours

Lots of forward movement in my writing world in the past few days. I'm happy to say.

Sold a story called "Lily White and Red" to Trembles. I also got word from Borgo's editor that "Midnight in Rosary," my collection of vampire and werewolf tales, has been sent to the folks who will print it. I don't have any idea as to the cover yet. I'm also going over the galleys for Wings Over Talera, which will soon be published in ebook. I did not make any forward progress on my science book over the weekend. In fact, I was pretty lazy and played quite a lot of video games, as well as doing some reading. I think I needed it, though, since last week was extremely busy, what with normal schol stuff and three extra research proposals to consider by the IRB committee that I chair. This week is gearing up to be a nightmare. Today, for example, I was up at 5:50 and won't get home till probably 10:30 tonight. Or later.

And, unfortunately, I've just acquired another university committee. So, forward progress on anything is likely to slow to a crawl for at least the next few weeks.

Lana and I did also watch Inception this weekend and I thought it was quite good. Lots of cool ideas and great special effects. I was actually pretty amazed that what was a complicated story was told so clearly that I didn't have trouble following it at all.

Last weekend, Lana and I watched two other movies, The Social Network, which I thought was pretty lame, and The Expendables, which I liked better but which wasn't anything to write home about.
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The Invisible Writer

I'm over at Novel Spaces on Feb 11 with a post on "The Invisible Writer." I'd love to have you stop by if you get the chance.
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Ebook News

Well, sooner than I had thought it might happen, two of my books have been released by Borgo/Wildside as ebooks for both the Nook and the Kindle. This is Swords of Talera and Bitter Steel. The rest will eventually follow, although dates for that are unknown. A couple of folks have asked me particularly about the Nook versions so I thought I'd put up the links today.

Swords of Talera for the Nook

Bitter Steel for the Nook

Both Swords of Talera and Bitter Steel for Kindle:


Killing Trail is, of course, still available on Kindle, although not on the Nook as of yet.


Cold in the Light is also available in ebook from Google Books.
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WHEN THE SUN GOES

WHEN THE SUN GOES

The copper sky, I watch.
The sun in the water,
its reflection sinking.

Clouds build
as the heat of the day dies.
A wind is born.
It runs like a wild horse
with a mane of frost.

The day takes off its face.
Saffron blushes away.
Pomegranate red fades to kohl,
fades to indigo.

Behind the face lives black,
and the hungry stars.
When the sun goes.

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What to Say, and the Curse of the Working Man

I no longer understand how people manage to blog every day. I actually never did blog 'every' day, but I used to get a post up every 2 days at least, and then every 3. Now the days sweep past and I seem to have less to say and less time to say it in. One reason is that I'm trying to get back to the science book on Charles Darwin that I started several years ago. The book is over 2/3 rds done but every time I get ready to make the final push some major issue or a host of minor issues arise. I even got some release time this semester to work on it, but as soon as the world found out I had the release time it began dumping stuff in my lap. And there's also the matter of revision. Science doesn't stand still and in the couple of years I've been away from the book some major changes have occurred in scientific thinking on evolution. I'm finding that the chapters I thought were "done," are not done. All my facts need checking to make sure they are indeed still accepted. That has slowed my progress considerably.

I generally find nonfiction easier to write than fiction, but I'm starting to realize that this may be true only for short works. A short, nonfiction essay or article can be completed fairly quickly and sent off for publication before the world changes out from under it. But a long nonfiction work, a book, creates its own set of problems, particularly in a rapidly changing field such as science.

Despite the fact that I'm carrying a cold with me everywhere I go, I actually made a lot of progress on the book this week because I literally stayed home from school for 2 days, shut off my phones, and largely stopped checking my email. But when I got in this morning I found that the work I'd skipped had caught up with me. I even came in an hour early this morning for just that purpose, and I made a dent but not much more. At least part of my weekend will be dedicated to finishing up the stuff I let slide this week so I could write. In other words, I didn't really gain much of anything.

If this post seems to ramble, that's because I had no idea what I was going to say when I started typing. I just noticed that I'd not posted since Friday and it seemed like I ought to get something up. Maybe I should have just let it slide another day, or three.

OK, I'll shut up now. Doesn't seem I have much to say.
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New Orleans Comic Con

This past Sunday I attended my first “Comic Con.” This is the first big one they’ve ever had in New Orleans. It was put on by Wizard World, the same people associated with the bigger Comic Cons that everyone raves about. Apparently it was successful enough to bring them back next year and I’ll probably try to attend again. I liked it quite a lot, and my son seemed to like it as well. He’s 23 and I told him I was glad he wasn’t “too cool” to attend a comic con with his old man.

It was smaller than I expected it be, and there weren’t as many costumers as I thought there might be. The cost for a single day pass was 35 bucks, which I thought was a little high. I also wish there’d been more booths selling the “graphic novel” formats. There were quite a few selling individual collectable comics but only one that had a selection of graphic novels. Those are the less positive things.

On the positive side, I got to renew friendships with quite a few folks in local SF/Fantasy fandom. I got to talk to a number of comic book artists, although I’m not really enough into the comic book scene to know people’s names. I picked up a number of cool book or comic book items that I most likely would not have found elsewhere, and got much of it signed.

I met Walter Koenig and Adam West and thought that was kind of cool. I got “Chekov’s” autograph on a photo. There were also a number of other celebrities there that I recognized, although I don’t know their real names. There was “Xander” and “Spike” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the mom from No Ordinary Family. There were several actors from the Walking Dead series that I really enjoyed this past year on AMC. There was a lady named “Claudia” something from Babylon Five. I recognized her but can’t recall the last name. One of the “Monkees” was there. I have no idea which one. There was a woman who played a demon on Buffy, and there was Ernie Hudson from the Ghostbusters movie. Apparently Burt Ward (Robin) was also there but I didn’t see him. I met a “character” in a graphic novel that I recently read and did an article on. He was one of the folks featured in A.D.: New Orleans after the Deluge.

There were also quite a few very cool posters, including a zombie Clint Eastwood in one of his Spaghetti western poses. I almost bought that one, but with all of the paintings we already have up at home and the wall space taken up by bookshelves I don’t have any place to hang it. All in all, it was fun, and afterward my son and I ate at Mulates across the street and had frog legs and alligator with cold brews. That might have been the best.
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Ebooks and Paying Markets

In case you didn't know, two of our Blog Colleagues have published with Kindle in the past few days. They are Avery Debow with Resonance, and Bernardl (Bernard Lee Deleo) with Monster. I've got my copies.

Also check out Full Throttle Steve for an ebook offer HERE.

And our friend Rick over at The Writer and the White Cat has some very exciting news for the writers among us.

Just a little Linky Love for everyone.

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When Dreams Come True

I've posted on a personal dream that came true over at Novel Spaces. I hope you can drop by.

Also, my article on "Peter Elbow and the Real Voice" is in the latest volume of the Illuminata. I discuss the issue of voice in relationship to Peter Elbow's book Writing With Power.
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Battles, Broadswords, and Bad Girls

I'd normally leave the last post in my "100 Books Everyone Should Read" series up a bit longer, but I have breaking news I want to share with the crew. Many of you may remember the award nominated story that Chris F. Holm set up over at Beat to a Pulp featuring Simon Rip through time. The next installment of this serial story is up now over there, and it's by yours truly. It's called Battles, Broadswords, and Bad Girls." I hope you'll check it out.

Before you read the story itself, though, you might want to check out David Cranmer's post about the story and about where it's been and where it's going. That's over at his personal website.

Thanks for tuning in.
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Gramlich's 100 Books You Should Read: Part 4

Here's the last installment, with some commentary afterward.

81. Something by Raymond Chandler. Chandler’s and Hammett’s names are synonymous with the Private Eye Detective novel, and that genre has been hugely influential on fiction and film. I recommend The Big Sleep, Chandler’s first novel.

82. Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. First published in 1798, later republished in 1800 and again in 1802 with material added. Generally credited with ushering in the “romantic” movement in English literature. The most famous work in the collection is “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Coleridge.

83. Something by Alexandre Dumas. Dumas, who died in 1870, was an early practitioner of the historical adventure novel. His stories have great zest. Best known works include The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

84. Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott. This was the 19th century’s “Shogun.” A huge, sprawling novel, but a great adventure. Set in 1194, after the third crusade when many knights are returning to England and Europe. It also features Robin Hood.

85. The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson. A literary ghost story, and scary as hell. One of the very few books that scared me.

86. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer. The most complete and most compelling history of Hitler’s Third Reich. The rise of fascism in the 20th century put an end to a period of rationality that had been growing in England and parts of Europe. Rationality has yet to recover.

87. Arctic Dreams, by Barry Lopez. A beautifully written ode to the great white north, and considering how rapidly the ice is receding in the summertime it’s a world that is becoming increasingly exotic.

88. Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey. I’m a big fan of Abbey’s. This is his nonfiction work about living in the desert. A number of books on my list are about Earth’s wild places. I love them, and I love the loners who visit them.

89. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, as translated by Edward Fitzgerald. A collection of poems about life, drinking and love originally written in Persian.

90. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks. I’ve read about everything Sacks has written. It’s all good. Sacks is a medical doctor with a knack for bringing out both the humanity and the fascinating aspects of patients he’s worked with. This particular book illustrates some incredible things about the brain and how it works. Or sometimes fails to work.

91. Something by Louis L’Amour, the bestselling western writer of all time. L’Amour knew how to tell a story and combined the real and mythical wests in an appealing package. However, not all L’Amour is equally characteristic of his work. I recommend such books as: To Tame a Land, The Man Called Noon, Milo Talon, Flint, Silver Canyon, or Utah Blaine. To Tame a Land is my favorite.

92. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien. A children’s or young adult story. But it’s just wonderful and so imaginative. Loved it.

93. Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. One of the great children’s classics.

94. The Borrowers, by Mary Norton. Imagine little people living in your walls. Imagine that the things you misplace aren’t really misplaced. They are “borrowed” by the little people. This story ignited my imagination so much as a kid that I can’t help but include it here. I was disappointed when I grew up and found there were “sequels” I’d never known about. Sigh!

95. Something in the Romance genre. People ought to be familiar with the whole range of human literature. Every genre has strengths and weaknesses. None are worthless and something like Romance, which has survived a long time and is still a force in the marketplace, deserves to be taken seriously. I’ve read a dozen or so romance novels but don’t know enough to suggest a specific book. My favorite among the ones I’ve read was The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss. Definitely an historical novel as well as a romance.

96. A book’s worth of H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft wrote short stories and quite a few are really good. Others are slow for modern audiences and heavy on description. I like that myself. Whatever you read by him, make sure it includes “The Color out of Space,” “The Statement of Randolph Carter,” and something from his “Dream story” sequence. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos has been a huge influence on modern fiction and film.

97. Something by Dean Koontz. Koontz’s best work is a virtual lesson in how to write a thriller. Not all his stuff is equally good, however. Stay away from his humorous stuff, but do try something from among Midnight, Lightning, Watchers, or Phantoms.

98. Night, by Elie Wiesel. I don’t always agree with the “experts” on what folks should read, but they got this account of the Nazi Death camps right.

99. Something by Tom Robbins. I recommend Jitterbug Perfume, but others are also excellent, including another personal favorite, Still Life With Woodpecker.

100. Something completely trashy. Just because you should.


There are many other good books that didn’t make my list here, although they came close: “The Turn of the Screw,” “The Name of the Rose,” “Childhood’s End,” “A Canticle for Leibowitz,” “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” “Cold in the Light,” :)

There are also many books I left off deliberately. I don’t think you need to read “On the Road,” or “The Metamorphosis,” or “Silas Marner,” or “The Catcher in the Rye.” I took the hit for you on these and I wish I had the hours back.

There are also some that might make this list, based upon their frequent recommendations on such lists, but which I’ve not read yet and can’t make a judgment: “To Kill a Mockinbird,” “Catch 22,” “Slaughterhouse Five,” “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Someday I’ll read them and then my list may change. That’s the beauty of such a list. It is forever changing, both from experience and from changing lives and personalities.

I hope you enjoyed ‘my’ list. I won’t mind if you disagree, or if you make your own. That’s also part of the fun.
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Gramlich's 100 Books You Should Read: Part 3

Here's my third installment of the list. Just one more to go.

51. Watership Down, by Richard Adams. Animals have been used many times to illustrate human heroism and human villainy. It’s never been done better.

52. Something by Jack London. People talk most about Call of the Wild and White Fang, but the best thing London did were his short stories, like “To Build a Fire” and “A Piece of Steak.”

53. Plutarch’s Lives, by Plutarch. Louis L’Amour introduced me to this book and it’s definitely worth reading, particularly as an introduction to historical literature and biography.

54. Something by Dashiell Hammett. One of the first noir writers. Many folks recommend The Maltese Falcon or The Thin Man. Both are worthwhile, but I actually like Red Harvest the best.

55. Cosmos, by Carl Sagan. The best introduction to our planet, solar system, and universe I’ve ever read. An excellent source of information about science, and full of Sagan’s sense of wonder, which I found contagious.

56. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas. I felt I should include at least one modern poetry collection, and Thomas is my favorite poet and the one who has most influenced me. His influence has extended much further than that, though

57. Why People Believe Weird Things, by Michael Shermer. With one exception, this book is a relentless expose on pseudoscience and superstition. A very good lesson in rational thinking.

58. The Year of Living Biblically, by A. J. Jacobs. Besides being pretty funny, this book really examines the difficulties one stumbles upon in trying to live a religious life based on the Bible. It shows very clearly that an absolutely literal interpretation of the Bible is neither possible nor desirable.

59. Never Cry Wolf, by Farley Mowat. One of the funniest and most endearing books I’ve ever read. I was assigned this book and griped around for a week about being ‘told’ what to read. But from the first page I was hooked and roaring with laughter. Mowat’s sensitivities for wild creatures is inspiring.

60. Something by Loren Eiseley. Eiseley is probably our greatest naturalist since Thoreau. All his nature essays are outstanding. I recommend his collection called The Night Country most, but The Immense Journey is also awesome.

61. The Closing of the American Mind, by Allan Bloom. An indictment on higher education in America, and the problems he pointed out in 1987 are still with us today. In fact, they’re growing worse.

62. House Made of Dawn, by N. Scott Momaday. One of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read, second only to The Snow Leopard. A novel about a Native American character by a Native American author.

63. Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. To my chagrin, I’ve never read this. Considering that it’s generally judged one of the cornerstones of modern western literature I think I better get to it. I think we all should.

64. Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. Love this book. Perhaps the archetypal story of marooning, and quite a few books and films have taken their cue from it, including a decent SF film called Robinson Crusoe on Mars.

65. The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Very old stories, from the 14th century, written in a form of English very different from our modern tongue. Thus, they are difficult to understand and there is a voluminous concordance that usually goes with it to explain meanings and differences. I’ve never read all of it but have read a number of selections. Shows how much English has changed.

66. Something by Nathanial Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables are his best known and I liked both, but I prefer his short stories. An important American writer.

67. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison. A collection of Science fiction stories from 1967. It broke emphatically with the prototypical SF story and introduced the “New Wave” of SF, which dominated for the next few decades. New Wave put far less emphasis on technological advancement and exploration and adventure, and far more on social and political issues. Although the stories in this collection are awesome, the New Wave also produced some stinkers in my opinion. However, any modern SF writer from the literary side of the field owes a debt to Dangerous Visions.

68. The Virginian, by Owen Wister. This work, published in 1902, is considered the first “Wild West” novel It generally created the cowboy hero stereotype. A bit slow for modern readers, at times, it’s a set of loosely connected stories without a main plot. It’s really a character study of the “Virginian,” but it’s enjoyable, if leisurely. I thought about putting Shane, by Jack Schaefer, here. It’s more of a prototypical western, but it saw print in 1949.

69. Something by Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy is my favorite modern literary writer. He creates compelling characters and still tells a great story. My favorite by him is The Road, and it’s one of his most approachable books, but I also liked All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men.

70. Something about Robin Hood. This is actually more about the character than a specific book. Everyone ought to know Robin Hood’s story. It’s been hugely influential in our culture, all the way to Star Trek.

71. Critique of Pure Reason, by Immanuel Kant. One of the most influential philosophical texts of all time. A difficult read but it really does all make sense once you work your way through it.

72. Something about King Arthur. Like with Robin Hood, everyone should have some familiarity with King Arthur, which is probably the single most influential legend in Western Civilization. There are numerous books about Arthur. I’ve read quite a few, and you probably have too. Most canonical might be T. H. White’s The Once and Future King, which I’ve actually not read.

73. At least something from Friedrich Nietzsche. Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil are his best known works. I’ve read a fair amount about Nietzsche’s beliefs but have not read any book length materials actually by him. I need to correct that and will do so in the new year.

74. The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell. I’ve not read Campbell’s highly influential work because, from everything I’ve heard, I just don’t buy it. However, I of all people should know that what people say about a work and what the work itself says can be two separate things. I intend to get to this in the new year and figure most everyone ought to know something about it.

75. At least something from the greats of Russian Literature. That is Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and/or Anton Chekhov. From these writers, I’ve only read short stories. Nothing so far has made much impression on me, but I do want to try a novel by Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, particularly War and Peace or Crime and Punishment. I’ve downloaded War and Peace to my Kindle but haven’t yet gotten up the courage to begin.

76. At least something from James Joyce. I’ve only read Joyce’s short work and it sucks. I have his most famous work, Ulysses, but have not the courage to confront that battle at the moment. I thought long and hard about including this. Joyce may have once been relevant but is he still? Maybe there’s a benefit to suffering through such a work, though, and if I have to then so do you.

77. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. Wilde has a sense of wry humor with an edge of cynicism that resonates with me. I don’t know why, since I have nothing else in common with him. Yet, his work is always a delight. This is his only published novel. More’s the pity.

78. A book’s worth of Robert E. Howard. Howard wrote mostly short stories, but few writers in history could throw readers more headlong into adventure. I’d suggest The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volume 1: Crimson Shadows, from Del Rey, which includes many of his best pieces and gives a good sample of his work.

79. The Broken Sword, by Poul Anderson. Fantasy has never been done better, and I include The Lord of the Rings in that judgment.

80. Something from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. There are 7 volumes in the series and I think once you read one you’ll want to read all. I did. This remains the only series, ever, that I read entirely back to back, without taking a break between books. The first couple are clearly for younger readers but by three the series really hits its stride. That one is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
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Gramlich's 100 Books You Should Read: Part 2

Here's part 2 of my list. Please note, the numbers assigned to these books do not indicate a rank ordering on my part. In other words, I'm not saying that number 1 is necessairly a more imporant read than number 50.

21. On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. Primarily meant for nonfiction writers but in reality the best book for writers ever. An excellent book to read for anyone who has to write as part of their career.

22. Watchmen, by Alan Moore. Graphic novels should be represented on any list of this sort because they’re becoming so big a part of our culture. This one is probably the best one yet written. It’s my favorite at least.

23. The Epic of Gilgamesh. One of the oldest examples of literature in the world. And not a bad story.

24. Beowulf. The great Anglo-Saxon poem cycle. One of the most enduring heroic myths of Europe.

25. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown. Heart rending. It definitely changed my view of the world and of American History. I love America, but our history is not one of white clothed innocence. We need to know it.

26. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, edited by Robert Silverberg. The single greatest collection of SF short stories ever. Not a clunker in the bunch and there are some of the most powerful tales of any kind I’ve ever read, such as “Flowers for Algernon,” “Nightfall,” “The Nine Billion Names of God,” and “The Cold Equations.”

27. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Sometimes the folks who anoint the classics get it right. A real window into human behavior. I put this one into the horror genre.

28. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. I find this novel flawed but it is nonetheless powerful and has influenced many later works of literature and film, most notably Apocalypse Now. One day I’m going to write my own version.

29. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. A tale of genetic manipulation that should be a warning for people today.

30. 1984, by George Orwell. The world of 1984 came early behind the Iron Curtain and it will certainly come again. Elements are with us now, in America, in China and North Korea, in many other places.

31. Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Orwell is the only writer on my list with two books but I just couldn’t figure a way around it. A morality tale for us all.

32. Walden Two, by B. F. Skinner. Not content with rewriting the field of psychology with such works as Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Skinner wrote this novel laying out his idea of a utopian society in which every behavior is controlled by appropriate reinforcement. Many find it horrifying; that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

33. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The classic adventure novel that has fired the imaginations of generations of young readers, including me.

34. At least some Jules Verne. Verne, in France, was one of the first science fiction writers and his work is seminal. He wrote a lot of books but I’d recommend Journey to the Center of the Earth or Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.

35. At least some H. G. Wells. Wells was Verne’s counterpart in English and I generally prefer his work to Verne’s, although only slightly. He also wrote many great books but I’d recommend The Island of Dr. Moreau, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, or The Invisible Man.

36. Ghost Story, by Peter Straub. The scariest book I’ve ever read. I wish I could write this kind of complex book and make it work like Straub did. He’s one writer whose talent makes me jealous.

37. Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. Too charming not to include. My son’s favorite book as a child, and my favorite to read to him.

38. Dante’s Inferno, by Dante Alighieri. I’ve seen Hell done better but this version has much to recommend it. Hugely influential.

39. Something by Stephen King. King is a juggernaut, hugely influential on other writers and on TV and film. I’m not a huge King fan but everyone should know a bit about him. I’d recommend Misery, The Shining, or Salem’s Lot.

40. A book’s length of O. Henry. Considering today’s flash fiction explosion, you’d think O. Henry would be cited more often. His pieces are masterpieces of the concise. “The Gift of the Magi” is most famous but most of his stories are worthwhile.

41. Something by Rudyard Kipling. The Jungle Book is well worth the read and Kipling’s best known work. I’d personally recommend his poetry the most.

42. The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Probably the single biggest influence on modern fantasy literature. A great story. A modern myth.

43. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. I’m not Twain’s biggest fan but this is a really good book. If you only read one Twain, I’d give this one the edge over The Adventures of Tom Sawyer because it’s more culturally relevant. Both are good adventures.

44. At least something by Sigmund Freud. Freud wasn’t a psychologist and couldn’t be called a scientist. He actually delayed the development of psychology as a science. However, his work has been hugely influential on our culture and entertainment. I’d recommend Civilization and Its Discontents, or The Future of an Illusion. Both have interesting things to say about the battle between the individual and society.

45. Native Son, by Richard Wright. Bigger Thomas is born poor, born black, born in the inner city, and born for jail, or so it seems in this tremendous novel. The great thing about this work is that it doesn’t turn Bigger into a hero; it doesn’t mythologize him. It puts his character into a realistic context that introduced many readers to the forces that have shaped our inner cities and the lives of the African Americans who live there.

46. Something by James Baldwin. Baldwin was one of America’s best literary writers, writing fiction and nonfiction with equal ease. I like his fiction a bit more. In fiction, Go Tell it on the Mountain (novel), or Going to Meet the Man (short stories) are his best known and well worth the read. I have a slight preference for a little novel called Giovanni’s Room. In nonfiction, Notes of a Native Son, (essays) is the way to go. I hesitate to say it because it shouldn’t make any difference, but one reason I find Baldwin’s work fascinating is because he comes from such a different background from me. Baldwin was both African American, and gay.

47. Cultural Literacy, by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.. This book is subtitled: What Every American Needs to Know. Hirsch thinks he knows everything that you should know. In many cases he was right, or so it seemed to me. In other cases he was full of it. It was fun making that determination.

48. Something by William Faulkner. I don’t like Faulkner’s novel length works, although some of his short stories are pretty good. But there’s no denying his influence on American literature and culture. I’d recommend nothing of novel length by Faulkner really, but I forced my way through The Sound and the Fury and perhaps you should too.

49. Something by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I’d recommend One Hundred Years of Solitude, but most of Marquez’s work illustrates the field of magical realism and it’s worth becoming acquainted with.

50. The Prince, by Machiavelli. The single best guide for tyrants and those who would resist them ever written.
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Gramlich's 100 Books You Should Read: Part 1

I often have strong disagreements with those 100 books everyone ought to read lists. For one, they’re generally very narrow and limiting. There is a huge wealth of literature out there, and an educated individual knows about breadth as well as depth. An educated person doesn’t just read literary novels, or just nonfiction. Second, some entries in such lists seem rather extreme. I don’t think you necessarily need to read everything Shakespeare wrote, for example. I think there are a lot of authors people need to be familiar with, but a specific book by them might not be required. Third, the world has changed and continues to change. There are books that once were critical for an educated person to know about, but maybe that’s no longer true. Forth, there are books that get chosen for such lists because they've been anointed by some “expert” along the way and no one is willing to really say the truth, which is that they suck. All of this is by way of saying that I’ve made my own list and annotated it. And now I’m going to blog it. The list is pretty long so it’ll take several days to get it all in. I make my start today. Feel free to disagree or argue. That’s one thing that makes these lists fun.

1. The Bible. Whether you believe in it or not, there is no arguing with the cultural importance and influence of this book.

2. The Origin of the Species, by Charles Darwin. Probably the most important scientific book ever written. Profoundly influential in every aspect of the modern world.

3. The Koran. Included for the same reasons I included the Bible.

4. The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Twenty years ago I’d not have hesitated to include this. It’s importance seems to have faded a bit, but I’m keeping it for now.

5. Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. Considering my love of books, I sort of have to include what is typically recognized as one of the very first modern novels. Sections of it are incredibly boring, but it has also widely influenced modern fiction all the way from Ray Bradbury to Star Trek.

6. Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. I’m not sure anyone has ever seen nature more clearly or appreciated it more. I love this work.

7. Dune, by Frank Herbert. Perhaps the most enduring classic the SF world has ever produced, or perhaps ever will. It rocks!

8. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. A major influence on both science fiction and horror, and just a damn good novel with a lot of important themes running through it.

9. At least some Shakespeare. I don’t think one needs to read everything Shakespeare ever did, but his plays have been so influential on modern literature, theater and movies that I think everyone ought to have some exposure, particularly to plays like “Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Macbeth.”

10. The Odyssey, by Homer. Great adventure novel. Highly imaginative. One of the roots of fantasy fiction. I love this one too.

11. Dracula, by Bram Stoker. Not the first vampire novel but certainly the most influential one.

12. A book’s worth of Edgar Allan Poe, including his poetry. Many “100 books to read” lists “short” the short story writer. I’m not going to do that. In many genres the short story has been as important or more important than the novel. Poe is the grandfather of the detective story and a huge influence on the horror genre. I especially recommend such stories as “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “Murders in the Rue Morgue.” One can hardly go wrong with Poe.

13. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Hugely influential, and fun. Probably the best known ghost story of all time.

14. A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The prototypical Sword & Planet novel, a big influence on fantasy fiction and on the field known as Space Opera. One of the best sheer adventure novels ever.

15. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway’s best tale, although some of his short stories are outstanding as well. Pretty much any Hemingway would be good, except for The Torrents of Spring, which is horrible and not Hemingwayesque at all.

16. At least something by John Steinbeck. I recommend, The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, or Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck is sometimes a bit pretentious but he really understood the human condition and the world of the rural poor.

17. Something by Dr. Seuss. Seuss is an icon, the most important children’s author ever, I would argue. I’d recommend The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Oh the Places You’ll Go, although I also have a fondness for Green Eggs and Ham and The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.

18. A book’s worth of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle. I’m not a huge fan but Holmes is iconic and these stories have been hugely influential. My favorite is probably “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

19. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Almost all Bradbury is worthwhile but this one is probably the most politically and culturally relevant.

20. The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen. Best book I’ve ever read. Luminescent prose. No book has ever affected me more.
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Star Trek: Ghost of a Savior

In one dream last night I was flipping through my TV listings and saw Star Trek: Ghost of a Savior. I knew this was for The Next Generation and was thinking I’d never seen that episode. I was intrigued. When I woke up, of course, I realized I’d never seen it because such an episode never existed. However, I think I know the plot.

The Enterprise arrives at a far flung Federation outpost to find no one home. The place is abandoned. Lightless and lifeless. There’s no sign of an attack from outside. It looks like everyone just packed up and left.

Then, at extreme sensor range, Data detects a ship of alien design fleeing the vicinity at high warp. Because the outpost monitors the Neutral Zone, the Enterprise can’t leave it abandoned. A skeleton crew is beamed down to the base while the Enterprise herself takes off in pursuit of the alien ship.

Riker and Beverly Crusher are among the crew members who beam down to the station. There’s about a dozen others. They start getting all the base’s equipment back on line but two minor mysteries quickly rear their heads. First, they find that all the base’s plant life has died or is dying. Then they find three empty coffins that look like they were being prepared for space burials. While Crusher goes to work on figuring out what is killing the plants, Riker knows his primary job is to get the base up and monitoring the Neutral Zone.

In the meantime, the Enterprise is catching up to the alien ship, which is running like the hounds of hell are on its tail and which will not answer hails. Back at the space station, more mysterious events occur. Things left in one spot appear to have moved when the users return. Systems turn on and off apparently on their own. Doors open when no one is coming through. Scans reveal no life force readings on the base, however, except for Riker and his group.

The Enterprise catches the alien ship and discover the entire compliment of the star base on board it and perfectly safe. Their communications and sensors were out so they didn’t know the Enterprise was hailing them. Confused, Picard wants to know why they’ve abandoned their posts and mentions that he had to leave a skeleton crew behind to take over the duties. The leader of the star base crew blanches and demands. “You didn’t leave anyone back there. Tell me you didn’t. You’ve signed their death warrants. There’s something on that base.”

Picard immediately tries to contact Riker to warn him, but they can’t get through. “Mysteriously,” the communication system aboard the star base has crashed. And then the first of Riker’s crew is torn apart by an unseen force.

I have an idea for how this would end but I’m going to let your own imaginations do that work. Since Star Trek: TNG is no more, I may end up writing this as an SF story set in my own universe. If I do that I don’t want to give everything away here. I think there are some interesting possibilities.

Dreams, man. You gotta love the ideas.
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Mystery Walk Post

I've posted over at Novel Spaces about a local mystery. I think it's kind of interesting and would love to hear your thoughts if you get a chance to check it out.
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Hint Fiction, and other Good Stuff

I am alive. I thought I'd post more regularly once the new year came in but I've been banging my head a bit trying to get these two reference articles done. Every project I do takes much longer than I think at first it should take. Lana tells me I'm a perfectionist, and maybe I am, though it doesn't often feel that way. Anyway, here are some updates on what I've been reading and listening to. Some of these are well overdue.

1. First, there's a nice review of Hint Fiction up online today, and it even mentions my story. I'm happy about that. It's over at Wilson Knut's blog if you'd care to have a gander.

2. I posted my review of Discount Noir a bit ago, but I'm remiss in not posting my review of Mark Durfee's The Line Between. I gave both works five stars. In a nutshell, here's what I said about The Line Between on Goodreads:

“An excellent collection of poetry from a Detroit poet. Similar in many ways to his previous collection, "Stink." A range of poetry, mostly hard edged, and with a tinge of righteous anger overlying much of it. A good mixture of short and longer poems. I greatly enjoyed.” I’ll only add that Mark is a helluva poet with some important things to say.

3. I can't remember if I reviewed JR's book here, Adopted Behaviors, but I also gave it five stars and here's what I said on Goodreads.

“I don't have a bookshelf for Tomlinson's type of work. I'd consider it to be general literary fiction, but there is also some memoir in this collection. This is a 52 page booklet carrying the subheading of "Flash Memoir, Short Stories, & Flash Fiction."

I don't actually read a lot of literary fiction so I'm not the specific target audience for this work. I enjoyed this collection, however. Tomlinson draws vivid portraits of his characters and puts them into brutal but realistic settings. The characters certainly have the feel of realism about them, which means there aren't any clear cut heroes in Tomlinson's stories, nor many clear cut villains. Tomlinson himself has been a teacher in the prison system in Michigan for many years and the events and experiences he describes in his tales have the unmistakable ring of authenticity.”

4. I've also been remiss in reviewing a great new metal CD that I actually won in a contest over at Jodi MacArthur's blog. It's by a band called A Pale Horse Named Death. I'd call it melodic metal, but don’t take that to mean wimpy. It’s dark and heavy, but with a lot of polish and professionalism in both the licks and the lyrics. The band members have been around. I know a couple of them were in Type O Negative, which I’ve only lately started catching up with. If you check out the website link I’ve provided you can listen to a few songs off the CD to see what you think.



That’s all for now. I suppose that’s enough.
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Update and a Sorcerer

School is in session again, which explains why I haven’t been posting much or even visiting a lot of blogs. I should be back to normal next week. In the meantime, I did have an interesting dream last night. I was a young man, apparently held in thrall by an evil sorcerer. I was joined in that slavery by a young woman (probably Lana although neither of us looked like we do these days). We were “helping” the evil one hunt down another sorcerer who he had injured in a battle. The young woman and I found the injured sorcerer, who was in dog form, and while my friend called out to the bad guy that she’d found blood, I pulled the wounded guy away and hid him, then marked out the tracks I’d left.

The evil sorcerer came up to us and he was in the form of a giant black wolf, but he bought our statement that we’d only found blood. He led us down a hill to the injured sorcerer’s abode, which was a glass cabin in the woods full of all kinds of plants and strange objects. While there, I spotted a set of keys, and when the evil one ordered us to go and hunt the wounded man again, I took the keys, and then locked the evil sorcerer in the cabin, knowing that the spells on the place would keep him imprisoned for a while. Then the young woman and I fled into the woods to escape.

We later wandered into a village that was abandoned, but it turns out the evil sorcerer was waiting for us. When he faced us, it was clear he meant to torture us slowly before killing us, and so in desperation I challenged him to a duel with swords. He laughed but agreed to my condition that if I merely cut him with the blade we would be free to go. At first as we fought it was clear he was toying with me, but then I began to become faster and faster with the blade. I noticed suddenly that on a hill to one side of the village stood the injured sorcerer we’d helped, and he had friends. I realized they were helping me. The fight became desperate, with the blades moving with incredible speeds until they seemed only flashes of light. And then I cut the wizard across the stomach and stepped back. The wound wasn’t serious but it counted toward our bet, and as the young woman and I strode away in freedom, we heard the good sorcerer comment to the evil one about how his time was up. The End.

I’ve also been remiss in reviewing my friends’ works of late. I finished Discount Noir and reviewed it on Goodreads. Here’s what I had to say:
A really fun collection of short flash fictions all involving "MegaMart," which you can probably guess is meant to represent another "Mart." There's a little bit of everything here, serial killers, vampires, losers, drug addicts, sad sacks and more. I couldn't quite decide on my favorite story in the collection and will call it a tie between "House Names" by James Reasoner, and "Thirty-one Hundred" by Loren Eaton. Loved 'em both. I enjoyed the whole work, though, and particularly the fine stories from Sandra Seamans, Kathleen Ryan, Evan Lewis, Ed Gorman, Bill Crider, Patti Abbott, and more.

Probably based on my “Discount Noir” experience, I also had a dream involving searching for something in a Megamart last night, and finding everything but what I wanted.
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A SEASON OF LOSS

You see a lot of retrospectus posts these days on the blogs. It’s natural and I rather enjoy them. Usually I like to do one myself, and I guess this is such a post, but this year it’s a little harder. There are things I don’t want to look back on, losses that I’ve had a hard time dealing with.

In March my mom died, after a really tough few months of illness, hospitalization, and pain. While attending her funeral I came down with the flu and it lingered for well over a week. Physical exhaustion. Mental exhaustion. I had them both. It’s still hard to believe I’ll never speak to her alive again.

Then came more loss. In July, my brother-in-law, Roger, died. He had several pretty bad weeks with brain cancer before he passed. I wasn’t there for it, although the family kept me informed of what was happening. And then came the third loss. In November, my stepfather, Ray, passed. He didn’t suffer as long as mom or Roger. And in such times you find yourself thankful for small favors.

Such things do not make for a good year. For anyone. And they linger; they ache. Like an arthritic limb. But the year was certainly not all about loss. It wasn’t primarily about loss. I have Lana and Josh. Their love is wonderful. I have a job I enjoy and not a lot of money worries. I live in a great house with trees on three sides and a yard full of birds and other critters. I ate well in 2010. I bought and read many good books, often by friends.

My writing did not go as well as I’d hoped. Certainly I didn’t get much new work done. I started two novels and both came to screeching halts. However, I did complete some projects that were close to my heart. I self-published Killing Trail and am rather proud of it, although sales have been modest. I also completed two collections of my short stories for Borgo Press. One was a collection of vampire fiction, Midnight in Rosary, and the other horror, In the Language of Scorpions. “Midnight” has been turned in but Borgo is setting up ebook versions of older books so new publications are on the back burner. I’m hoping 2011 will see both books in print.

In the end, I cannot be sad to see 2010 go. It will not be remembered with joy, as I remember 2007 for my marriage to Lana, for how we settled into our current woodsy home, and for the publication of the Talera novels. I know I’m looking forward to 2011; I’m hoping for better things. But 2010 did remind me of what is important in life. It reminded me that love and family are the reasons why I’m here. I can live with that.
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The Decade’s Scariest?

Well it’s official. The zeros, the decade we’re finishing, is the decade of wimpy horror movies. At least that is, according to the Chiller channel’s list of the 13 scariest movie moments. The gore quotients went up, but suspense and fear took a nasty hit. Sad, sad, sad. Here’s their list, and what’s wrong with it.

#13. Drag Me to Hell: Although the gypsy curse plot is cliché, this movie was actually decent and should have been rated higher given the other listees. There’s a lot of slimy things here, with some genuinely revolting moments and some decent action. The ending raises the level too, and it reflects true horror. 3 out of 5 on the Gramlich Approval Meter.

#12. The Strangers: I wanted my money back. A couple is trapped in a farmhouse by 3 people intent on terrorizing and murdering them. Rather cliché, but could be OK. The problem is that the 3 “villains” are kids, with no guns, and there’s not an ounce of threat in any of them. The couple, who are far too stupid to live, even have a shotgun and other weapons but allow a couple of teens to own them. I know a lot of folks who would have wasted the 3 “mad-dog killers” inside of ten minutes. 0 of 5.

#11. Final Destination: This is really a remake, which means no suspense or tension since we already know the story. There were a few cool gory scenes but not enough to carry the movie. This one would come nowhere near my top 13. 1 1/2 out of 5.

#10. The Orphan: Didn’t see it so won’t judge.

#9. The Descent. Five women go spelunking and end up fighting monsters and each other. I liked some of this. There are claustrophobic moments I could appreciate, and the monsters, although typical mutated humans, were pretty nasty looking. 2 of 5. Maybe even 2 1/2.

#8. Hostel: No suspense, no fear. Lots of gore. This one is sometimes described as torture porn and I agree. Tourists are kidnapped and taken to a place where people pay to torture them to death. That’s about as slender a plot as I’ve ever seen. There’s one effective scene involving a woman and a train. 1 of 5.

#7. 30 Days of Night: I love the idea. Vampires tree a town near the arctic circle where it stays dark for 30 days. The vamps were appropriately nasty and there was some genuine tension as survivors hid for their lives. The middle sagged, though, and I didn’t buy the ending. 2 of 5, with an extra point thrown in for the concept. 3 of 5 total.

#6. Cloverfield: Oh, it was bad. A giant monster movie where you almost never see the monster. Shaky cam crap that ruins any chance to suspend disbelief. Characters that are realistic enough to be boring. I’m glad I didn’t pay for it. The only effective scene is when the Statue of Liberty’s head crashes down onto a New York street. 1 of 5.

#5. 28 Days Later: By far the best on the list so far. Essentially a zombie movie, but before the current glut, and this was the first movie to use fast zombies. That ratcheted up the tension, and the acting was really good despite a cast of mostly unknowns. 4 of 5.

#4. The Mist: Good acting and some moments of genuine tension as you wonder what lies in the mist. Some decent gory stuff. And, this one had the most horrific ending of any movie I’ve ever seen. The ending took guts and I loved it. 3 of 5, with an extra point tacked on for the ending itself. 4 of 5 total.

#3. Saw: Finally one that can stand up to the great old movies of the past. Passion and intensity. Wild twists and turns. This one had gore aplenty but it was well done and worked ‘with’ the storyline so well that you appreciated it even as you winced. A great horror movie. 5 of 5.

#2. Paranormal Activity: How this even registered as a blip on the horror field escapes me. The lamest movie on this list and nowhere near the top 100 of the decade, much less the top 13. You know that internet joke where you're watching a commercial and a zombie suddenly pops up? This is exactly the same, but it runs for over an hour before the monster pops up. I am ashamed to say I paid for it. -1 of 5.

#1. The Ring: This one deserves to be number 1. It scared the crap out of me, and that is not easy to do. Great twists and turns and the ending rewrites your expectations. 5 of 5.

Of the movies on this list, only The Ring, Saw, The Mist, and 28 Days Later are really good horror films. 30 Days of Night and Drag Me to Hell were worth seeing. Only The Ring and Saw match up decently with the best horror movies of the 80s and 90s, like The Exorcist, The Thing, Alien, and In the Mouth of Madness. Cloverfield, The Strangers, and Paranormal Activity aren’t anywhere close to good. The fact they made Chiller’s list could mean: 1) the decade really was a wimpy one for horror, 2) the Chiller folks who made the list don’t watch anything other than major Hollywood releases, or, 3) the folks who made the list are about the same age as the villains in The Strangers.

So, what is your vote for best horror films of the decade? Or of forever? How about the worst?
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Season of Rust

Late at night the morbid thoughts creep upon me. I listen to a slow metal dirge that recalls the fetid summer. But now it is winter, and the iron cold sweeps down with blades of icicle-sharp. I hear the whisper of dead leaves stroking my windows; I hear the brush of the oak’s barren limbs upon my roof.

Outside in the night, I know the black horse rushes past on the Wild Hunt. And I know who rides upon him. I see his limbs, like sabers. I feel his eyes from the dark upon my face. They are curved like the stings of scorpions.

I wonder if I should put on my coat of silver. I wonder if I should set my mouth for war. The hunter and his wolves beckon, and in days past I would have joined his gathering and ridden fast to the vicious skirl of the horns.

But in those days my soul was quick; my youth was armor. Tonight, I fear, my weakness would make me prey.


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Last December Post at Novel Spaces

After a few days off for Christmas, I'm back with my last post of the year over at Novel Spaces. This one is about the things I've learned from Bad Writers. Hope you can drop by.

And I hope everyone has had and is having a wonderful holiday season.
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More Updates

You'd think I'd have more time to write information heavy posts since I'm off from school, but I've been spending most of my free hours lately working on the two Graphic Novel articles that I agreed to do. Good progress so far. The hardest part has been identifying other scholarly works that address the books, since graphic novels are only beginning to be taken seriously in the larger world.

So, here's another promo type post if you will, wherein I talk about myself. Egads, that sounds pretty boring even to me. But, there are some good things going on at the moment. David J. West has a review of Bitter Steel up over on his "Nephite Blood, Spartan Heart blog. Thanks to David for the kind words.



Also, Swords of Talera is now officially a "Nook Book," at $4.79. That's purty cool. At least to me. The second and third book in the series are scheduled to be released as ebooks eventually, probably in the new year.

I already mentioned here that Cold in the Light is also available as an ebook now, although apparently not yet for Kindle. It's available for only $2.84 at the Google Ebookstore. The link is here if you were wondering.

One of these days I'll put up another, more substantive post. I promise.
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Already Sunday

It seems that when you’re working, time attacks you. It surrounds you, beats you down, and crows over your tormented body. Not so when you're off. Time flees like a teasing lover, leaving only a hint of gossamer behind to wet one’s desire for it.

In other words, how the hell did it get to be Sunday already? Thursday I posted here and then did various writing related and last minute school related business. Friday I wrote all day, Saturday most of the day. I made great progress, but not on fiction. I have articles due January 14 concerning two graphic novels, Bloodstar and A.D. New Orleans. I always kind of dread starting such articles but always enjoy them once I get into them. I will easily make my deadline and should have some time left for fiction.

Today I don’t plan to do a lot of writing. The Saints play the Ravens and I’m quite concerned about that. Lana also brought home the remastered versions of the original Star Trek episodes and I want to see those. We watched three of the earliest last night, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” in which we learn that James Kirk’s middle initial is…R, “Charlie X,” about a teenage boy with super psychic powers developing his first crush, and “The Man Trap,” which is about the last surviving salt vampire.

Speaking of vamps, I dreamt about them last night. I was a scientist who had just been assigned to a research lab and they took me on tour. Behind one heavily locked door they kept some vampire subjects. On the left was a single fairly large vampire who was incredibly old. He was in a glass enclosed chamber somewhat like an oversized coffin. On the right side were 8 glass chambers, 4 on bottom, 4 on top, and this was where they kept the vampire experimental subjects. They were humanoid but only about half human size; they generally looked like demons with reddish-brown hairless skin, ridged wings, and clawed hands and feet. As we came in they started pressing their fanged mouths to the glass walls of their cages and beat their wings wildly.

Later, I needed to get one of the vamp subjects for an experiment but when I went into the holding chamber all the cages were empty. I woke up about that time so I didn’t get to have any adventures fighting off vampires. More’s the pity.

Now it’s almost time to go get some Popeye’s Fried Chicken and get ready to watch the pregame show. Let time be with me.

And with all my friends (you, that is) on this December Sunday.
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A Day Off: Mostly

I’m away for a day and all kinds of things happen. Had to go into work early this morning to close out some stuff for the school year. Then the psychology faculty got together for lunch and a few beers in the French Quarter. I had a spicy rabbit stew, which was delicious but hot enough to make my tongue wince when the next bite was coming in. I cooled it down with some Bohemia, Negra Modelo, and Abita Amber.

While I was away from the net a number of things happened. First, Patricia Abbott posted my piece on writing Swords of Talera as part of her wonderful series on “How I Came to Write this Book.” You can find it here if you’re a mind to. Thanks, my friend.

Then I got a note from the talented Jodi MacArthur letting me know that I’d won a copy of what looks to be an awesome CD called A Pale Horse Named Death, and it’s autographed by Sal Abruscato. Thank you, Jodi. I’m looking forward to listening to this one.

Finally, I got word that Cold in the Light is now for sale as an ebook from the Google Ebookstore. I’d heard this was coming but didn’t expect it until next year. I actually have no idea what formats you can get it in. All I know at the moment is the link is here.

And now I’m going to try and visit a few of the 170 plus posts on my Google Reader. I won’t be making it all the way around before I crash.
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On a Windy Day

The Horse Latitudes


I hear the wind
as horses racing through the tree tops.
Their hooves are shedding
leaves


For a moment,
I think of catching an air stallion,
of lying in wait up an old oak
with a dream lariat


He would be as blue as sky,
with a mane like a contrail,
and, oh, he would be fast.
We’d make thunder together


But maybe he’s better
running distances with his herd.
We humans have tamed so much.
Let the wild wind be

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Again at Novel Spaces

I'm posting again over at Novel Spaces today (12-11-2010). I've revisited a topic I mentioned here on this blog quite a while ago now. That topic is "resonance" in writing. I hope you can drop by over there for a visit.
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Final Exams and a Review

Too much grading to do much posting of late, although coming in at six in the morning has allowed me time to visit quite a lot of blogs for the last couple of days. I give two more tests today and have a late meeting so will not be around tomorrow. I hope to have my grades turned in by Saturday. That would be heaven.

In the meantime, though, Evan Lewis has a nice review up over at Davy Crockett's Almanack about Write With Fire. Naturally I'd like to share it.

Thanks. Evan.
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Kindle Reading; Holiday Books

I've just finished reading/listening to my 51st book on my Kindle, and have started on #52, a space opera by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I first held my Kindle in my hands on February 27, 2009, so I've had about two years. I currently have 34 books loaded on it, and about 75 more kindlized works stored on my computer to be loaded as needed. Among the books already loaded: some of the Dray Prescot works that were never "printed" in English, a couple of the "Shadow" pulp novels, several SF novels from the 40s and 50s, some books by friends like M. F. Korn and Ty Johnston, collections like Discount Noir, and such classics as The Picture of Dorian Gray, Ben Hur, and War and Peace.

I bought a fair amount of my kindle books from Amazon, but over two-thirds of the books I have and have read I downloaded free from Project Gutenberg and other online ebook sites. Many of these I downloaded as text files and then kindlized them, which is ridiculously easy. I just send a text file to my kindle email account and they kindlize it within seconds and either send it back to my kindle or to my PC so I can load it later at my leisure. I have found that I can improve my listening experience on Kindle with such books if I do a little editing on the text file first to make sure there are periods after chapter titles and so on.

Although the reading experience itself on Kindle is very good because of the lack of glare and the ability to increase font size, I've found the text to speech function to be one of my favorite applications. I let my Kindle read to me as I take my long daily commute, and although the voice is definitely mechanical sounding and lacks the voice qualities of a good audio book, I find that it doesn't matter much with a lot of books, such as the Shadow and Doc Savage Pulp stories. I tend to supply the intonations in my head as I listen along.

The Kindle has not meant an end to my long love affair with printed books. In fact, I've bought more "new" books in the past three years than at any time in my life. I've also bought printed copies of some of the books I've read on the Kindle just to have them on my shelves. It has complimented my love affair with reading, not complicated it.

And I'll end this little ode to the Kindle by mentioning a couple of my own works that can be found on Amazon for the Kindle. I’m talking about Killing Trail, and Chimes, of course. “Chimes” is actually a longish short story while “Killing Trail” is a collection of my western stories. They’re both pretty cheap, and I feel comfortable recommending the author to you. :)

Btw, Killing Trail is also available on Smashwords in different ebook formats and PDF if you should perchance prefer.




However, if you prefer to do your holiday shopping for printed books, check out Erin Cole’s Holiday Catalog, which includes Cold in the Light by yours truly, as well as many other wonderful books from up and coming writers who deserve your consideration.

Happy holidays!

Final Exams and Cutting Line

My first round of finals starts today and will run through the middle of next week. I hope to have final grades turned in no later than the 11th. I then have two articles that I’ve agreed to finish between the 11th and January 3rd. That shouldn’t be too difficult but it will certainly take time away from blogging. These are for a reference work on graphic novels and my articles will deal with two such works, Bloodstar, based on a Robert E. Howard story, and A. D. New Orleans After the Deluge, which is about Hurricane Katrina. The upshot is that I won’t be around the blogosphere as much as usual for a while, although I’m not abandoning it, of course.

Speaking of finals, I have to relate an experience I had yesterday. I generally eat at the school lunch room and it isn’t unusual for there to be some standing in line involved. I frequently get irritated at the students who cut in line in front of others. I sometimes say something and at other times don’t, depending on how far from the cut I am. Yesterday, I’d been standing in line for quite a while and was finally only two people back from being served when a student in one of my classes cut in front of me. I was somewhat taken aback but did mutter in a loud voice, “Oh come on.” The student did not make eye contact, and in fact I’m pretty sure she never even noticed I was there. I’ve realized through other dealings with the student that she is extremely self-centered and seldom notices anyone unless they can do something for her at that moment.

This student will certainly get the grade she earns in my class, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen her take short cuts and be inconsiderate of others. Although I doubt she will ask me for a letter of recommendation, if she did I would have to say no. It’s certainly not just the frequent cutting in line and inconsideration, but includes cutting corners in classes she’s had with me that makes me feel this way. Yesterday too, for example, she came to my morning class about five minutes late, (early for her), and after bumbling around disrupting the class while she got settled, she asked me a question I had actually been covering in the moments when she was trying to get to her seat. The look on her face when she asked the question seemed clearly to indicate that I was confusing her with my unclear presentation on the topic. Although I answered her politely, I must admit to a touch of irritation. And I thought to myself that there’s no way I’d feel comfortable recommending her for graduate school where she might eventually become responsible for other people’s welfare. Maturity and empathy for others counts.

And now for some happier thoughts, I’m putting up the links below to some books I’m hoping a certain loved one of mine will buy new for me for Christmas. She knows who she is and would never cut in line in front of me. :)






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